The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c15.s1.15

c15.s1.15

This hypothetical case of an "all-knowing" sovereign is well known to students of European political philosophy from Plato to Mill. But the utilitarian creed of the "greatest happiness of the greatest number" on which is erected the legislation of the present day is not prepared to trust itself to the discretion of such an ominiscient benevolent individual. For according to modern political conscience the physical magnitude, if not anything else, is too much for one man. The logic of the *Śukra-nîti* is thus essentially modern. Besides, Śukra is conscious also of the complexity of moral and social relations, as well as of the diversity⁸ of intellectual attainments among the members of a community, — facts which make it all the more improbable that any single intellectual giant should be competent enough to manage a whole state.